A vast array of the vaguely interesting from history and more

The Wimbledon tennis championship is held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club – and the croquet came first! The All England Croquet Club was founded in 1868 and tennis only became part of the club’s name in 1877, when this was changed to the The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. It adopted its present name in 1899.

In justifying his People’s Budget, then facing stiff opposition in the House of Lords, David Lloyd George stated: “A fully equipped Duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts, and Dukes are just as great a terror, and they last longer.”

To control the powers of the monarch, the English Parliament passed the Bill of Rights 1689 to prevent a standing army in peacetime without the consent of Parliament. To this day, Parliament must meet at least once a year to ratify the Order in Council to renew the Army Act 1955.